Tell Your Story

Help For You

How good it is to discover books and stories that speak a message every time you read or discuss them.

Pilgrim’s Progress (Bunyan) is such a book and story. It tells of Pilgrim’s journey to the Celestial City. As you read this story you easily see yourself on a path to heaven. Christian, the Pilgrim, meets many road blocks and fearsome creatures. He sees the consequences of his response to these. This story with its lessons for all ages is worth reading together and rereading through the years. Dangerous Journey is a retelling for younger children of Bunyan’s story.

Why would you want to continue reading this classic? Because (among many reasons) it shows those sins and temptations that each of us face in all of life. In this reading you have opportunity to bring these situations to the family discussion table, showing with Christian answers and hope for your journey.

Well, this is just one (but perhaps the best) book that will offer parents help as they train those in their homes to live a life in which God is ever present and ruling.

God’s Word

Oh, the power, the comfort, the security we who are His children have!

Do your children know that they have inherited the promises of God? I first came upon this thought as I was reading Elizabeth Prentiss’ husband’s book of her life and letters.

How rich we are - and as with all riches we want to share the wealth with our children. Here are just a few:

- “Fear not, for I am with you…” Isaiah 41:10

- “And my God will supply every need…” Phil. 4:19

- “For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son…” John 3:16

- “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.” Jere 29:11

- “For all the promises of God find their Yes in Him…” 2Cor 1:20

- “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins…” 1 John 1:9

- “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.” James 4:7

Yes, these are among the inherited promises. We are duty bound to continue offering these absolute, dependable promises because they are given to us from our ever faithful, always present, constantly loving Father.

Boredom

Two categories of students most often complain of boredom. Of course, boredom can be singularly, as any attitude problem, sin showing its face from a sinful heart. This we deal with every day, training as we live life, study God’s Word and share ideas among the family. After you have looked at the heart, see if either of these situations might be yours:

1. The very alert student who sees mundane school work as a waste of time may be showing signs of boredom meant to alert YOU to reconsider individual needs.

A student who quickly understands concepts may find marking each of 20 verbs on a page as useless. If he understands the multiplication or division problem, he may wonder at the value of doing 10 more.

So, what do you do? Address this head on! You will show him you want him to follow directions and understand the discipline that comes from the repetition. With this approach you will want to list some value that comes from such discipline.

OR

You will share with him that you understand his position, have considered it and offer the following changes:

- do 2 practice items.

- write a paragraph showing the use of verbs. Make this paragraph useful. It is a greeting to someone, or it explains a science concept or reviews a history point.

- devise another activity that he can enter into.

2. The child is immature and unprepared for the forced assignment.

So, what do you do? You rearrange assignments to match the work level rather than the age level. The real learning that results will astonish and encourage both teacher and learner.

Boredom often comes when the student either sees no purpose in the work or finds the work completely incomprehensible. Remember, your goal is to use this academic study to show that God loves your child and to encourage your child to love God above anyone or anything else. Often this is easier when individual differences are admitted and addressed.

Tell Your Story

Let your children see, through your story, God’s love drawing you, perhaps long before you were redeemed. Here are a few pieces of my story to give you a start at telling yours:

- As an 8-10 year old child I remember making fun of a church in my neighborhood. A small group of us would pitch pebbles at the windows while they were worshiping in a way unusual to me. Think how hopeless my parents must have felt when they discovered this. Years later God used that situation as a drawing toward Him.

- As a 17 year old, returning from a European study summer, our ship was lost in a hurricane. Waves covered the entire ship as it rocked literally from side to side. I didn’t get sick or scared. I was invincible. Yet there was this small voice, down deep in my spirit that whispered, “What if this boat never gets to NY but rather is destined for the ocean’s floor?” This question remained in me until my surrender.

- Or as an even younger 6 year old, feeling gratified when my friend accepted my bargain of a piece of bubble gum for her new beaded purse. My mom made this an opportunity for seeing my desperate need for forgiveness and the plan God has for such a need. This impacts me to this day.

So, tell your story!

God’s Love

When you least feel like it, your child has the greatest need to see and know of God’s love. Consider why your child angry; simply because he did not get what he wanted. At this time, we are most apt to be disappointed and react abruptly or loudly or arrogantly. But this is a great opportunity to show just how profound God’s love is:

To the child show/tell:

- God is loving even while I am angry.

- God’s love would be incomplete without His justice.

- In fact God’s love is perfect because it is intertwined with all of His attributes. Show how or illustrate His love intertwined with long suffering, jealousy, omnipresence and others.

So, instead of being aggravated with a pouting, angry, lazy, rebellious or self-satisfied child, consider your unique opportunity to teach your child that God’s love is offered to him. Love, Becky